My Research

1. Nanomedicines and Human Health
By Rodolfo Ayala
What would you do to save your mom’s life?. This is a question that I
answered when you are put in a dangerous situation. 8 years ago, during my
senior year of high school, I learned how to answer it when my mom got cancer.
My family and I didn’t know what to do, especially when all my grandparents
have died to cancer. However, one day a doctor talked about a research that he
was doing; it was about curing cancer with nanotechnology. I didn’t know what
does it means, so I started doing some research and found out that nano is a
prefix that means “very small”. It can be combined with any word to describe it
at an atomic scale, therefore, nanotechnology is any technology taken to a
molecular level. This technology has demonstrated having a great potential to
cure diseases with what they call nanomedicines. Nanomedicines involve a new
age of really small robots called nanoparticles which have been proved to cure
diseases such as: cancer, and ebola. According to Mark Bittman, a columnist for
the New York Times, nanoparticles are usually 500–100,000 times ‘thinner’ than
a human hair. This technology is still at a young age where engineers, doctors,
and biologists are working together trying to make error-free nanoparticles.
This has waken up a huge debate where people are scared of using robots to
cure diseases.So, my question is: should nanomedicines be used to improve our
health and cure diseases?.
People fear doing new things because they don’t know what to expect from
them. This is one of the biggest problems, that the company “Nanoprobes,Inc”
is facing with their latest project. They have already developed nanoparticles,
that are smart enough to detect, and kill cancer cells. However, skeptics ask,
how can we trust something with such an amazing intelligence? what if these
particles decide to kill healthy cells?. These type of questions make the topic to
be debatable, because we still don’t know what to expect; even when
nanoparticles have been successfully tested on animals. Also, we still don’t know
which are the possible side effects. Researchers say that they need more
information to have trustable conclusions. So far, scientists are more concerned
about the toxicological implications (Toxicology is a branch of biology and

2. chemistry which studies the adverse effects of chemicals on living organisms).
This has been a concern since 1986 when the nanotechnology researcher and
engineer ,Eric Drexler, published his book called “Engines of Creation”. In this
book, Drexler talks about cell repair machines which can repair other cells,
tissues or DNA. This shows that nanomedicines might have great applications
in the future. We are not only going to be able to kill cancer cells, we are going
to we able to repair almost all kind of living human tissues.
Researchers are still trying to design error free nanoparticles, because there
is still a lot to learn about them. Even when companies, such as Nanoprobes,Inc,
claim that they have found infallible nanoparticles. There are still many thing
that want to explore more. For example, when is this technology going to be
available to the public? have researchers found more applications? if so, how
long are we going to be able to live without getting sick? and what if somebody
decides to make nanodiseases?. Also, as an electrical engineering student, I
would like to know if there is a plan B in case things go wrong. I mean, when we
get sick we can take antibiotics to kill virus. But what would we do if we want to
kill a nanoparticle that is killing healthy cells?. In order to understand more
about this topic, first I have to understand what people think about it and what
has been discovered. I have found, that lot of information is available. For
example, if the word “nanoparticle” is typed in the New York Times’ website; 23
articles will show up. Including one is called “Nanophobia” by Natasha Singer
which talks about the fears, that people have because of nanoparticles. Also,
after checking the SFSU library database, I found more than 4,000 academic
journals, audios, and news related to nanoparticles and human’s health. For this
reason, I don’t think I will have to face any challenge. However, I will have to be
very focused, so I will not end up talking about something else.
In conclusion, nanomedicines are opening new doors for more health
applications. However, it will take a while until people understand what they are,
and how helpful they can be. According to a report published by the University
of North Carolina, 80%-85% of Americans citizens have never heard about
nanomedicines. But this was not my case because my mom was cured by
nanoparticles. However, Doctors in Dominican Republic, where all her treatment
took place, are still trying to understand a side effect that she got. She does not

3. produce saliva anymore, so she has to use synthetic saliva in order to keep her
mouth wet. It’s been 8 years since that, and I still remember when a doctor said
“there is nothing else to do for your mom, she will probably live 3 more months”.
Knowing that my mom survived thanks to nanomedicines makes me passionate
about this topic. This is why I have decided to get a master in biomedical
engineering in the University of Texas at Austin.